Transcript 0:01 Hey, I'm Julio Ricardo Varela of the Latino Newsletter Podcast, and here is a bonus audio story from the Latino Election Project that the Latino Newsletter did with New England Public Media in Western Massachusetts. 0:16 This story features audio from the Massachusetts Senate candidates, Elizabeth Warren and John Deaton, as they talk about Latino businesses in Western Massachusetts, and this is the broadcast story that was on New England Public Media that we did with a high school student journalist and a college-age multimedia student journalist. 0:36 Enjoy. Halima and Danielle, what's up? How y'all doing? I'm doing good. I'm doing great. Halima, start us off. The debate in October was between Senator Elizabeth Warren and Republican candidate John Deaton. Yes. 0:52 And we had a chance to ask each of them questions about Latino businesses in Springfield and what they'd do to support them. And Danielle, what did Senator Warren tell us? 1:01 She said that she had already earmarked about half a million dollars to assist Springfield's Latino Economic Development Corporation to work with new Latino businesses. 1:12 So for example, restaurant wants to get started, but there's a lot of startup costs and inspection fees. Who's got that kind of money? And banks are just not gonna lend to these little businesses getting started. 1:26 So part of what I've done is I got earmarked money and brought it right here to Springfield, gave it to this group. They have lent it out, and here's the best part, and they've gotten repaid. 1:37 And they've lent it out again, and they've gotten repaid again. Halima, what did Deaton tell us? Deaton grew up in a subsection of Detroit. He said Latino businesses would benefit with some tax relief. 1:48 I come from the inner city, right? And what you see is you see a migration out of the inner city. 1:53 We have to get people to go back into the inner city, and one way to do that is give tax credits to Latino-owned, uh, businesses. Okay, two politicians making promises in a campaign season. There's nothing new there. 2:07 Halima, does that mesh with what business leaders in the Springfield area are saying? 2:12 After the debate, we did connect with Andrew Melendez, founder of the Latino Economic Development Corporation, the organization Senator Warren referenced in her answer. 2:22 He said the earmark was a big help in getting one business, Las Cangris, an opportunity to sell their food at The Big E. 2:29 Elizabeth Warren came to our office, sat down with the local businesses, and wanted to see how their investment, the federal side, Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren have both signed on to, to support the Latino EDC with a $550,000 earmark. 2:45 Markey is Massachusetts' other senator. Danielle, what did Melendez say about Deaton's thoughts on tax credits? Melendez thinks tax credits are a good idea, but there's a catch. 2:58 You know, I think the candidate for, for Senate is onto something, and one thing that I would kind of encourage him is to know that to get a tax credit, you have to have the cash to begin with. 3:10 And that's part of the issue, right, Halima, the lack of capital for Latino businesses? Yes. It's a point Shaomara De Novato of the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts in Springfield told us. 3:21 De Novato says Latino businesses need one important thing, money. So there isn't, like, extra savings that they can use in order to help their business. 3:32 So they rely on getting paid for their services that they give out as soon as possible. 3:39 And then two, there's some grants and stuff from the state, from the federal government that have funding that small businesses really need in order to pay their staff. 3:51 De Novato thinks politicians are finally listening to Latino business owners. 3:55 I do think that our politicians and our elected officials and our municipal leaders are looking out for the best interests of businesses and Latino businesses. 4:04 And I say this because Latino business owners are the fastest growing group. 4:11 De Novato shared the following data from a presentation she recently gave about how fast Latino businesses are growing in Western Massachusetts. 4:19 For example, between 2007 and 2019, Latino businesses in essential sectors like construction and agriculture have seen growth of more than 20%. Danielle, you spoke to a Latino business owner, yes? Yes. 4:34 Pedro Arroyo of Juguitos, a juice and healthy food store in downtown Springfield. He opened up about the problems he's facing. We try to go get a traditional loan from the bank, it's almost impossible. 4:45 Been going on four years, and we're constantly getting turned down. Arroyo is also worried about predatory loans. The only thing that gets offered to us, 4:57 it's these things called merchant cash advances, and those things are horrible. Like, I don't even, I don't even know how those things are legal. They're, they're predatory. 5:05 Still, with all the challenges, Arroyo believes in his community. There's so much more that we could do as a community. 5:13 Honestly, that whole idea where it's just like you have the, the Black community, the Hispanic community, and all that, I look past that. I think u- ultimately just minorities, we're a community. 5:24 There's white minorities, there's Asian. Just people that live in this community, no matter what race you are, we all should be working together and helping each other out, and that's what it should be. 5:36 As with politics and businesses, there are promises, there's reality. And there is hope. For the Latino Election Project from NEPM News and the Latino Newsletter, I'm Julio Ricardo Varela. I'm Halima Mohamed. 5:49 And I'm Danielle Lenore Felton.
